Starship Power Systems

Electrical power is everything aboard a spacecraft. Without electricity, the ship does not have anything else. Aside from, maybe, windows. As such, power is seperated into two distinct systems: Main Power generation, and Power transfer.

Main Power Generation

Typical main power generation is not so different from it's terrestrial counterparts. Most ships prefer nuclear reactor technology for it's extremely high output vs size ratio. Nearly all inter-stellar spacecraft use a power source that is atomic in nature.

Civilian

Civilian Nuclear

Most civilian ships tend to use plain old boiling water nuclear reactors, often taking designs derived from naval power systems. his is especially prevalent on smaller ships, while larger vessels may opt for a more traditional reactor design that sacrificies space at the advantage of using less refined fuels. In general, reactors are fueled to last the lifetime of the ship. Larger cargo vessels(which can sometimes have an operational lifespan of centuries) may opt for a refuel-able design. Most ships assume that when the reactor goes cold, the ship will go with it.

Reactor designs vary by nation of origin.

• Graphite-moderators are popular because of their robust nature. in the event a graphite-moderated reactor core is breached, venting the compartment to space does not also suck out the core moderator. Graphite-moderators also have the advantage of being able to use un-enriched or very low-enriched uranium, making them cheaper and safer to operate. These reactors also employ carbon dioxide in the primary heat-loop, which can transfer heat much faster and more efficiently than water, allowing the reactor to have a higher power output with lower over-all pressure.

• Light and heavy water-moderated reactors are extremely common due to their solidarity with terrestrial-based designs. Larger spacecraft may employ a reactor block that is virtually identical to a planet-based light water reactor. An important aspect of this feature is that reactor operators are easier to find and train. The design also allows for optimal fuel burnoff, offering longer reactor-life. Some large vessels may use heavy-water moderation and begin with highly-enriched fuel, operating for over a century before re-fueling.

• Boiling-Led reactors are favored by the Runarins and used in both civilian and military applications. The technology is also commonly exported, with many neighboring nations using it as well. In a boiling led design, the core is submerged in molten led that acts as both a neutron-moderator as well as a heat-exchanger. Water is still used as the working fluid, but the core is kept very safe and little additional shielding is required for the crew. A primary safety component, and the reason for the Runarin's favoring of the design - in the event of a complete reactor scram, the core hardens into a massive ball of pure led. If the ship then makes an uncontrolled atmospheric entry, the led ball protects the core from contaminating the echo-system.

• Breeder Reactors are not common, but are well-liked on long-endurance ships, specifically civilian deep-space science vessels. While highly complicated to operate, they offer a very robust design that produces it's own fuel, or can be easily re-fueled in the field using commonly available materials(natural uranium). Ships of exploration, thus, have long used these types of reactors.

Other Civilian Power Sources

• Ion-Vacuum engines can be designed such that they provide sufficient electrical power for the ship. This is very common on both military spacecraft too small to support a stand-alone powerplant(such as fighters), as well as small to mid-range civilian spacecraft. Such civilian ships might rely on energy stored in a buffer, or external power sources to manage engine stops and restarts. It is not uncommon for docking facilities to provide an umbilicle for ships to use station power while berthed.

• Fusion energy is a mainstay in some cultures. The Foundation even widely utalizes controlled fusion in terestrial power generation, but prefers the much safer Nugen Reactor for spacecraft. Fusion powerplants are a popular alternative to nuclear as the initial "burst" of plasma can be provided by the ship's engines. Fusion plants are, however, unstable. Terrestrial generating facilities have the advantage of being very large, and providing many safety features. In order to scale down a plant appropriately for use aboard spacecraft, certain "liberties" must be taken, and a catastrophic core breach can easily destroy the ship.

• Not to be outdone, some civilian vessels have been found to be outfitted with a highly volatile Higgs-Nathan Reactor. These are extremely rare and usually one-offs produced by civilizations that have not yet mastered safer technologies.

Military

The Foundation uses the Nugen Reactor on all of it's larger ships. Very small vessels, such as fighters and bombers, will use self-powering ionvacuum engines. A few mid-sized ships, such as fast-attack vessels, may use a combination of power buffers and self-powering engines.